India: A Spectacle of Mismanagement.

Abstract

The first COVID-19 case in India was reported on January 30, in the southern state of Kerala. Though the state’s response was admirably swift, it was not long before the pandemic spread in other parts of the nation. As of September, India has 4.2 million infections, more than 71,500 deaths, and is the second most-affected nation in the world—this, despite its government imposing the harshest lockdown in the world. This chapter scrutinises the timeline of India’s national response and its crisis communication. Not only did the government misjudge the threat level, it failed to utilise the time it bought by placing its 1.3 billion people under severe restrictions. Its communicative responses were delayed, and, while manifestly in line with the CERC principles, largely aimed at framing the government’s ad hoc approach to lockdown and exit as effective crisis management that has “saved lakhs of lives”.